In-Situ Dehydration Test of Shield Spoil in Mudstone and Pebble Soil Composite Stratum

Abstract

When earth pressure balance (EPB) shield machine is driving in mudstone sand pebble composite stratum, it will produce a large amount of spoil with high water content. The high moisture content of spoil not only increases the difficulty and cost of transportation, but also easily leads to environmental pollution problems. In this paper, based on the shield tunnel project of Chengdu Metro Line 30, the hydraulic characteristic of shield spoil was tested, and on this basis, laboratory tests of shield spoil dehydration were carried out according to the designed precipitation scheme. The results show that: 1) The moisture content of the EPB shield spoil in the mudstone sand pebble composite stratum is as high as 55.2%, and its permeability coefficient is basically the same as that of silt, and the shield residue has the condition of in-situ dehydration. 2) The dehydration amount and residue moisture content of spoil in slope-type spoil pit showed a linear relationship with time, and the dehydration rate is slow and the total precipitation is less. In other schemes, the dehydration amount and water content of spoil increase rapidly in the first 24 hours and slowly in the later period. 3) Considering the total amount and speed of dehydration within 24 hours, the dehydration effect of spoil pit is ranked from high to low: 3D gravel cage wall spoil pit > 3D spoil pit with vacuum pumping > 3D permeable stone spoil pit > 3D spoil pit > Slope-type spoil pit. 4) 3D gravel cage wall spoil pit has high dewatering efficiency, and vacuum pumping can assist the discharge of water. It is recommended to use 3D gravel cage wall spoil pit and vacuum pumping scheme for on-site EPB tunnel spoil dewatering.